Cabinet Office

Devolution

Lord Lexden: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to respond to the Constitution Committee’s report, Inter-governmental relations in the United Kingdom, published on 27 March 2015.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen: I would like to thank the Constitution Committee for their report ‘Intergovernmental relations in the UK’ which was published in March 2015. As the former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster noted in his initial response to the Committee, the report was timely as it followed the launch of a joint review of intergovernmental relations in the United Kingdom which was commissioned by the Prime Minister and heads of the Devolved Administrations at the Joint Ministerial Committee Plenary JMC(P) meeting in December 2014.The review was undertaken by senior officials within each of the four administrations and the recommendations have been considered. It is anticipated that the review’s findings will be considered at the next Plenary meeting of the JMC later this year. The Committee has agreed that the Government issue a full response to its report following the JMC(P) meeting.

Government Departments: European Union

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants, and of what rank, work in EU units or sub-departments within all UK Government ministerial departments.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen: The Department for Exiting the European Union has responsibility for overseeing preparations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and conducting these withdrawal negotiations in support of the Prime Minister. In doing this it is working very closely with other government departments.Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each individual department to determine and therefore the information requested is not held centrally.The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda and following the EU referendum decision it is critical for the Civil Service to ensure it has the right skills and capabilities to deliver its manifesto commitments and consider all the implications of the EU exit.Cabinet Office is working with all departments across the Civil Service to better understand their resourcing requirements following the decision to exit the EU.

Department for Work and Pensions

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Baroness Altmann: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many women born in the 1950s received Automated Pension Forecasts in the years 2003 to 2006, and of those, how many were also sent the official PM6 leafletPensions for Women – Your Guide.

Lord Freud: The information requested is not available

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to review their policy of freezing state pensions of British citizens residing in overseas countries, where there is no existing reciprocal social security arrangement in place.

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to negotiate extending reciprocal social security arrangements to overseas countries so as to facilitate an annual increase in the state pension for British citizens who retire to those countries.

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the average annual cost or saving to the public purse when a British citizen chooses to retire abroad rather than remain in the UK, assuming a continuing increase in the state pension.

Lord Freud: The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so - for example in countries where a reciprocal agreement is in place that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this or to assess the impact of British citizens’ choosing to retire abroad.